About Sahara Conservation

In 2004, when Sahara Conservation was established, many species were threatened with extinction, several of them occupying less than 5% of their former ranges due largely to decades of overhunting. One antelope, the iconic scimitar-horned oryx, was already extinct in the wild. Others, like the addax antelope and the dama gazelle, were reduced to the last few hundred individuals.

OUR 2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Our strategy will build on the achievements to date and the opportunities they provide for improved conservation of our focal species: scimitar-horned oryx, addax, dama and other desert gazelles, North African ostrich, and other threatened African avifauna, particularly vultures.

READ OUR STRATEGIC PLAN (English version)
READ OUR STRATEGIC PLAN (French version)

SAVING
SAHELO-
SAHARAN
SPECIES

Our Mission

Sahara Conservation was established in 2004 to address the largely-ignored and catastrophic wave of extinction threatening the large bird and mammal fauna in Africa.

The MISSION of Sahara Conservation is to conserve the wildlife, habitats and other natural resources of the Sahara and its bordering Sahelian grasslands.

Our Vision

Our VISION is of a Sahara where ecological processes function naturally, with plants and animals existing in healthy numbers across their historical range; a Sahara that benefits all its inhabitants and where support for its conservation comes from stakeholders across all sectors of society.

A STRATEGY WITH THREE PILLARS:
FROM SPECIES TO LANDSCAPES.

Saharan Species

Sahara Conservation is the leading source of technical expertise in the conservation and restoration of highly threatened species in the Sahelo-Saharan ecosystem.

Landscape Conservation

Sahara Conservation works to deliver models of sustainable landscape management that integrate the livelihoods of local communities, sound land management practices, and wildlife conservation.

Communications & Influence

Sahara Conservation is a major regional convener and global voice for conservation in the Sahara and Sahel.

Where We Work

Deserts are not barren wastelands. They are geographically spectacular, culturally rich, and home to an amazing array of exquisitely adapted plants and animals, many of which require urgent attention.

THE SAHARA

The Sahara desert and its Sahelian fringes cover over 10 million km2(ca. 4 million sq. ml), about the same size as mainland USA or roughly a third of the land mass of Africa. This vast region is shared by at least 14 countries and is home to many millions of people.

FOCAL COUNTRIES

Sahara Conservation’s organizational purview extends right across the Sahara and Sahel.  Efforts are currently focused on Chad and Niger and their increasingly unique but threatened desert biodiversity and habitats. Additional support goes to projects and programs in Tunisia, Senegal and Morocco.